Haunting Past
by samail64
Summary: This story is developed over the years, the past comes back to haunt Jack Malone and Victor Fitzgerald. Laurel betaed, it was needed I guess, so give Thank Laurel!. Please R&R to let me know what do you think. Chapter 13 is up! Sorry again for the delay..
1. Chapter 1

**Capter 1**

**March 18th 1982**

**FBI Office NY**

"Victor Fitzgerald" he answered on the phone, "Mmmm… yes, I'll be there, thanks" , he took his coat and the gun from his drawer and headed to the parking lot.

He drove by the streets, lost in his thoughts, the case ghad gone really wrong, he found the place he'd written in his notepad. It wasn't difficult to find the house, police cars were parked just in front. He parked his car in front of the house and climbed off, he walked to the house entrance and showed his badge. An officer let him in and pointed to the detectives in charge of the investigation, they looked very busy, but Victor went straight to talk to them.

"Detective…" he started

The younger of both men looked up and said "Maloe, Jack" offering his hand

Victor took the hand and answered "I'm special agent Victor Fitzgerald, I was sent here to cooperate with you, we've been looking for this man since a week now. You found him, now we work together from now on until we get all the facts"

Jack didn't like the man's attitude, he seemed to be too confident, he didn't want somebody to fight over the case's ownership, and this… Fitzgerald had taken his leadership for granted since the first second they met, just because he was an FBI!

"Look Fitzgerald… this is our case, a murder case now, what are you up to?" he said in an angry voice

Victor had seen it coming, but this was a case he'd been after since the first murder a month ago, he'd lower his head and try to behave with Malone and his partner, or somebody up there enough would take him out of the case, that was what his SAC had said to him, so he used his best nice and friendly voice and said

"Yes, I'm sorry Malone, you're right" then he smiled and added "the name is Victor. What do you want to know?"

The change produced an instant grin in Malone, he was still considered a rookie for everyone in the force, except for his partner, his mentor Frank Finnelay, but he wasn't that green, he could recognize some behavioural signs, and he knew Fitzgerald was struggling to keep himself tied, he kind of liked that self control in the other man, give him credit for that, so he smiled back and said

"I'm done here, I have all I need, we can have a coffee and talk about the case, what do you think?"

Victor relaxed, this was going to be an interesting case, working with this Malone wouldn't be that difficult after all. He was used to work alone, this will be a first.

They headed outside and Jack said "I'll talk to Frank, let him know we're going for a coffee"

Victor saw him talking to the other man pointing at him, and then coming back.

"So you're gonna take me for the ride, he has the car today" Jack said nodding to his partner.

"No problem, look, it's late, is there any problem for you to come to my home and have the coffee there? Maybe my wife still has some dinner for us" he offered

"If it isn't any problem for you…"

So they headed to Victor's, it was almost 8:00 PM and it was cold, a home made food wouldn't be a bad idea for Jack. Victor parked his car in front of the house. It was a big house and Jack wondered how much money did the FBI agents earn for their job.

Victor took his keys and opened the door. Instantly three kids appeared from nowhere running and jumping to him. Jack looked at them while Victor kissed the girls, a little boy was waiting in line behind them. Victor raised his head and said "Hello Martin" extending his hand to the boy.

"Hello sir" answered him a little dissapointed, like he'd been for a moment waiting for the kiss and embrace his sisters had received a moment ago, but the change in his face was so fast that Jack knew this wasn't something new to the kid.

"This is detective Malone, Martin"

Martin looked up and shook hands with Jack "Nice to meet you sir" he said very politely

To anyone else this would have been an amazingly well educated kid, but Jack saw the cold treatment between the father and his son, he'd lived himself in the same hell, with his own father being a cop, and he didn't like that at all, so he waved the boys hair, Victor had gone to see his wife so he talked to the boy very kindly.

"So Martin, how old are you?"

"I'm six sir" said the boy taking his distance while talking, he was obviously very shy.

"And, how's school?"

Martin looked down and whispered "it's OK…"

"Is there any problem?" Jack doubted that a six year old kid would have any problem at school.

"No, but…" and he looked where his father had gone some moments ago.

Jack got the whole idea of the situation now, remembering again his own father talking to him about school and having good scores and those kind of things, but he also remembered that conversation being him a teenager, not a six year old kid. He could picture the whole scene now. This Victor with the FBI badge, was pressing really hard the kid as if he was already an agent himself.

"Don't worry Martin, I'm sure you're doing real great at school"

The boy lightened his face and asked "Do you want to see my books and homework?"

"Yeah, of course!"

In a minute he was sitting on the sofa looking at Martin scripting practice and drawings. He could see the boy was really thorough for the details in his drawings, and his handwriting was clear an smooth.

"You're an excellent student Martin, this work… never seen anything like that in a kid your age"

Martin smiled wide, but his smile faded when he saw Victor coming. He closed his books in a sudden movement and was about to stand when Jack held his arm and kept him from leaving.

Victor put the tray with the coffee over the table and sat on the sofa in front of them. He looked puzzle to Jack when Jack gave him Martin's books.

"I was looking at your kid's homework Victor, very impressive" he looked sideway, where Martin was, to watch his reaction, he was again trying to get out.

"Yes, just a little…" started Victor

"A little what?" amazingly to Jack, he reacted protective of the boy against his father

"Well, he doesn't work enough at home, he just want to waste his time playing, that's all"

Then Jack opened the book to show the hard work the kid was doing to make everything perfect in there. Victor looked at the book and he fingered the pages one by one. It was like he was looking at that book for the first time, he complained about the boy not working hard enough, but then he'd never seen his work.

Victor opened his mouth and closed it again, not havin any words to say. Then his wife called Martin to have his bath. He gathered his books and ran out.

"Great kid you have there" said Jack "you can consider yourself very lucky"

"Yes, thanks" he said "I know". Then, without a second thought he went back to business, he didn't like Jack had taken the time to see Martin's work, just being at home less than ten minutes. He, himself had never had that time, always running, never realized it was less than ten minutes what he needed to have for his boy. He will do it in the future, or he will try…

"back to the case… " he cut off his emotions now, it was easier this way "we had the first kidnapping around a month ago, then it turned to be murder, the name of the victim was William Jackson. Four days after the kidnapping we found him in an alley, stabbed in the leg bleed to death. A note writen on his bare chest with his own blood, a message for us. They never got a ransom call…"

"If it wasn't for money, what is it for?"

"I guess it's just for fun" said Victor "the victim had been beaten during his captivity, What is it with this last man you found tonight?"

"Jack looked at his notepad "It's about the same, the bloodie message now says you'll never get me this time. The victims's name is…"

"Yes, Zack Myers, he's married too and had two kids"

"Do you have anything else from him? We have to link them somehow, to find if there's a connection"

"I didn't know about this other case" said Jack "but I'll start looking at the files if you want"

"Yes, fine, here's what I have from Jackson, if you agree, we could work on that tomorrow" offered Victor.

"I… " started Jack, but he was cut by a running kid with his hair all wet coming from upstairs.

"Mom says I have to ay goodnight!"

Victor glared at the kid and he froze in his place "sorry sir" he said looking at the floor.

"Well, goodnight Martin" said Victor to him coldly

Jack saw the boy's hesitation while he decided how to greet him, so he left the sofa and kneeled in front of Martin to be at his height, then he kissed the boy on his now red cheek and said "Thanks Martin, goodnight, and keep that hard work at school, huh?"

"Yes Jack, Thanks!" he then turnd around and went upstairs.

Jack looked at Victor and said again, more to himself than to Victor "Grest kid! You should be proud…"

Victor's only answer was "I think dinner is ready, but not work talk in there"

"You don't eat with your kids?" he asked in amusement

"No, too much noise" was the cold answer.

"Oh, right" nodded Jack


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day found them at Frank's office working with Frank, who knew the details from last night's crime scene.

Frank was relating the last findings on the case "He died in a pretty similar way than the case you just said Victor, stabbed in the leg, and I think in the same place and all, the knife was twisted to produce pain and also to make a bigger wound and then, it was taken off so he would bleed to death. The coroner said it took him about an hour to die. From the file you handed me, Victor, it's hard to find a connection between the two victims, other than this of course. From what I knew last night talking with his wife at their house, there wasn't any unusual behaviour in him, nothing new or different."

"Maybe there's no connection at all" commented Jack

"You mean, this is just a random pick, so nobody can link them to the killer?" asked Victor "that would make things pretty bad to us"

"Maybe we could relate the places where he left the victims to be found"

"That's a good one Frank" recognized Jack, he'd always admired his partner, he'd learned a lot from him. He never treated him like the rookie he was, and always took in account his ideas, he knew he could share his thoughts with Frank without fearing he'd laugh at him. Frank was a good man and the two years he'd shared with him as a detective had been a continued learning path to him. Frank had veru good instincts and he was teaching him how to find little things where it seemed to be nothing. And Frank was also a good friend, he knew Frank had his back all the time.

"So we'll start there" said Victor

They went through the files, over and over and had gone into the streets following every lead possible, it was like nothing was there. Jackson's body had been found in an alley behind a restaurant and Myers was also in another alley, inside a box but beside a fast food, but the only link was that both places weren't so far, just four blocks from each other; that was, for now, the only thing they had as a link between the cases.

Five days after they had started to work together, there was another possible case, a kidnapping again. Steven Rowlands, also two kids, married, the wife was desperate, they didn't have money to pay a ransom in case the kidnappers asked for one. Apparently he'd been taken while walking from the bus stop to his home.

Frank, Jack and Victor had shared some nights working together since they'd started the investigation, and they had also visited Victor's home for dinner, they were getting along very well.

Tonight, they were going again to Victor's for dinner.. Frank wasn't going because one of his daughters was with a bad flu and he wanted to help his wife with their other little girl while she tended the sick one. Jack had asked Victor to have the kids sharing the dinner with them, since it was friday and he liked very much having Martin around. The girls were different and always were together playing or talking. Martin seemed to be very lonely all the time. He rang the doorbell and Victor opened the door and let him in.

"I brought some wine" said Jack and gave the bottle to Victor

"Thanks, you didn't have to" he took the bottle and made his way to the kitchen

"Uncle Jack!" Martin came running downstairs and was about to jump over him, but stopped the movement when he saw Victor walking in the room coming back from the kitchen "S…sorry, sir, didn't mean to yell like that" and he lowered his face not wanting to face the dissaprobing look in his father's eyes.

Jack didn't mind about that look in Victor's face and he just held the boy up and playfully ruffled his hair with the usual gesture and a grin in his face. Martin hugged and kissed him and then he let him down. "How are you doing little buddy?"

"Great Jack! Can I borrow your badge while you're here? I want to arrest my sisters for being bad to me!"

"Yes, sure. Here you are" and he gave Martin his badge.

Martin took it and touched to gold sign on it with his fingers, and with a face full of admiration he looked at Jack and said "Thanks, now I'm a cop, just like you"

Jack couldn't fit in his own body, this was too much, then he looked to the kitchen's door and saw Victor's sad eyes looking at Martin. He felt bad for Victor, he sure was making what he thought was better for his boy, but he could see there was something Victor had been avoiding or maybe he didn't know how to show his true feelings to Martin. Jack rised his eyebrows and made a small smile back to Victor, something that intended to be an apology, although he knew it wasn't his fault.

"You can arrest them being an FBI agent too" maybe this would work, he thought.

"No, my father doesn't want me to play with his badge" he said and turned back upstairs to "arrest" his sisters. What did he planned to use as the jail?

When they were finnaly alone, Jack thaought it was better to say that apology so he joined Victor at the sofa and said "Sorry, I didn't know you didn't like him to use your badge"

"It's Ok, don't worry Jack" replied Victor, and then, to Jack's surprise he started to talk "I don't know, I try to make thing the best for him, but I always seem to be so distant, far from him, I'm not doing it on purpose, I just… my father was just like me, he raised me the same way. I hated that he never talked to me as a friend, noe I guess I'm doing the same to Martin. I thought I would be different from my old man"

"Yeah, probably I'd do the same than you as a father, mine is exactly like you pictured yours. But being an uncle is different, you know"

"Yes, I guess being an uncle is different" answered Victor, but he had that lost sight, like he was looking back to his own childhood and regretting everything he'd been doing with Martin. "I love him, you know, more than anything in the world"

"Yes, I can see how much you love him, you can start over again with him, it won't take so much time. Maybe we could go for a picnic with Frank's family, play some baseball together. That would help."

"Yeah, that would help I think, thanks Jack… I didn't mean to…"

"That's OK Victor"

Then they kept in a silent companion for a while until screams from upstairs brought them to the present. "What the…?" said Victor, climbing the stairs two steps at a time with Jack following him very close.

What they saw froze them in place, Jack trying hard to not laugh but failing in his intent. Both girls were tied together with a rope and Martin was staring at them with a guilt painted face.

Victor was mad at him for sure, because he treated the girls like little jewels and never allowed them for those boy's games so he yelled "What do you think you're doing Martin?"

Martin was really frighten now and said almost in a whisper "Sir, I… I's just play… playing… cops and… a… arrest them… for… hinde… hindering a police officer… in duty…"

His voice wasn't audible anymore once he saw his father's face

The girls wanted to help him also and said "We were just playing dad, it's nothing…"

"It is something, girls don't play that kind of games!" and as he was saying so he started to loose the ropes bonding them. Apparently the knots were very good because it took him more than five minute to untie them. By the time he'd finished he was really pissed at the three kids and said "I want everyone of you in bed right now, no TV for a week for you Martin and we'll have a real men talk tomorrow morning at six sharp in my office!"

So there it was his so planned night sharing dinner with the kids, his smile faded the moment Victor yelled at Martin for the forst time, and now he was worry for he knew it was difficult they would ever make their father/son relationship the right way. Victor was too structured and rigid with his son. They had been just playing and it had ended real bad for all of them, specially for the boy.

They got out of the room, Victor guided the girls each one to her room, Martin handed him his badge and said "Sorry Jack" looking down and holding his tears.

"It's Ok Martin, you were just playing, don't worry won't be that difficult" he tried to confort Martin and cleaned the tears that had just rolled down his cheeks.

"I'm waiting Martin" they heard Victor's voice from his room.

"Bye Jack"

"Good night Martin"

The rest of the night passed slowly and silent, Jack tried to talk to Victor, but the man made clear it was a closed case. After the coffee he went home with a bittersweet feeling that would be in his mind for years, as he would remember later.

The next day, even as it was a saturday they still went to work, Rowlands was still missing after two days, they couldn't afford to loose time.

Victor unfold the city map over the table. "Assuming he's been kidnapping and is the next victim, I would like to guess where would be the next drop" he said sounding really cold.

"So you think he's already dead?" asked Jack

"Yes Jack" said Frank "I agree with Victor in this"

"But you're giving up on him!" he was mad at both of them for being such cold bastards

"No, it's a fact, understand this, it's been two days" Frank tried to convince him

Jack stood angry at both of them "No, I can't think like that!"

"Look Jack, we have to guess where is he dropping Rowlands, to try to get him so there won't be more bodies" reasoned Frank

Victor was all the time staring at the map guessing where would be the next place, while they discussed the facts.

"So, calm down and think straight and you'll jump to the same conclussion" said Frank to a reluctant Jack. Fnally, after a moment, he gave up and sat in front of the map.

"Ok, Jackson was here and Myers down here" Victor pointed with a pencil, "now we could draw a circle including both points, and we'd be lucky if we patrol the area every night since today and get him" he looked at the others waiting for the answer.

"All kidnappings were three to for days before the drop, so we'll got maybe one or two more nights" nodded Frank "we don't loose so much, just some hours of sleep, to the possibility of catching this son of a bitch, I'm with you Victor"

They looked at Jack expectantly "Ok, so I don't have anything better to do the next two nights, I'm going. How are we gonna do? This area is too big for the three of us"

Victor said "I borrowed two agents from the FBI"

And Frank added "And I asked Simmons for three more, so we're eight for the work"

"It's two blocks for each of us" said Victor

"Too tight" pointed Jack. He didn't like this.

"Yes but we've got the police cars patroling the area too, and if we count only the alleys…" explained Frank "lets see.. here and here…"

They traced the alleys all around the area in the map and got ready for the first night of work.

The next day found them all gathered at the coffee shop for the early breakfast, they planned everything for the night and went home to have some hours of sleep.

At 6:00 PM everyone was at his assigned block walking about the alleys and looking for any sign out of the ordinary.

Frank was walking by the sidewalk when he spotteda car getting in the alley just in front of him, it was one of Victor's but he must have been on the other side and if so, it would be difficult to him to see the car. He crossed the street and got behind the car looking at the figure wandering around inside the alley. He went the other way and saw the body already on the floor, then he saw the shadow approaching and shouted.

"Police! Get your arms up!" pointing the figure with his gun

But the shadow was fast and he suddenly felt the pain piercing in his leg, it was so intense he felt the grip of his gun lettin go and then he was slidding on the wall behind him.

Victor had heard Frank's voice warning somebody and was running towards the other end of the alley as fast as his legs let him do it.

He got there and saw Frank sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, he was pale and fighting to breath, but he pointed to the street and said "Hurry! That way, brown jacket, green eyes, dark hair, jeans, tall 6 feet 2… run Victor, get him!"

Victor didn't know what to do, so he fired his gun against a crate close to him, to alert the others and went the way Frank had said to him, looking frantically in the streets for the man Frank had described. He saw him running a hundred feet ahead of him, he pressed harder, he was close and he shouted "Stop there! FBI!"

The man turned around and looked at him, he filled Frank's description perfectly, so Victor said "Get on your knees! Now!"

The man did so but he made a sudden movement to his belt, he was trying to get something from there, the light in the street showered over the object making it bright, it was a knife. "Drop it!" warned him Victor, but as the man raised his hand, evil eyes looking into Victor's, he knew he had to fire, and he did. The man laid down in the sidewalk, cold dead. He looke at the knife in his hand, it was covered in blood, Frank's blood?. A police officer was beside him now, he told him what had happened and retraced his steps to look for Frank.

An ambulance was in front of the alley now, he went in and saw Jack very pale, he approached him asking "How is Frank?"

Jack lost his temper in a second and jumping over him he roared "You son of a bitch! You were here and left him to die! What kind of cold bastard are you?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Frank's dead? I didn't think it was that bad! He told me to follow the perp Jack, he even described him to me; I fired my gun to let you know where to come. What do you think? I wouldn't have let him alone if I thought it was that bad!"

"But he's dead, don't you see it? He WAS that bad! I'll say that in my statement, I can't believe it! He was my friend… How am I going to tell his family?..." Jack was lost in the waves of the sea of sadness, he was drowning in his thoughts of what was coming next… telling Christine about Frank's death, he never thought that day would come, Frank was an excellent cop… this couldn't be happening.

The coroner was there and called them "You better come and see this detective"

They turned around and looked the way of the voice, there he was, kneeled beside Frank's corpse, with his bare chest showing the feared note, written in red bloodied letters "4 to 0". The feeling of being useless at this point, together with the note made a bitter bile come to Jack's mouth, it was too much… he went to the side of the alley and puked whatever he had in his stomach waiting to return outside. The thought of Frank, still living his last minutes, looking at the fug guy writing the not with his blood, it was too much… He saw Victor passing by almost running and heard him saying "I'm going to the station" the bastard couldn't even take a moment to see Frank laying there…

Victor looked away and went straight to the station, he knew the nightmare had finished for him, and he needed to make the report in order to make it dissapear from his head. It was the denial that kept him healthy, it will be buried with the other memories he kept there.

On the other hand, Jack refused to let his friend alone, he stood there, being there for him, as if Frank would wake up any minute and would need him to take him back home. But the moment the coroner zipped the bag and Frank's face dissapear from his sight, the revelation of the hurtful truth came to his mind. He took a deep breath and went to talk to Christine, to Frank's home. And he stayed with her until the next morning, talking to her and feeding his blurried mind with her feelings and thought of the life that was to come.

April 2002 Quantico

Martin had finished his training and headed for the showers. He passed by the recruiting office, and, as he always did, he went in, looking for the field job he longed to get. He hated white collar now, it had been interesting the first year, and he'd learned so much, but now that he knew all the tricks, it was boring. He was on the edge of quiting it, but he wasn't that kind of person. He needed something else, a challenge, he wanted more action, he wanted to be in the field, to feel his blood running on adrenaline each time he went to work. He looked for the opening positions, and suddenly, a name popped in his head out of the long list. He hadn't expected to find that name in here. It was a very welcome surprise to him. He submitted the information and went back to the office. Now he had hope, all he'd waited for years was there in that piece of paper he'd submitted.

June 18th, 2002

"Fitzgerald" he answered his phone

"Martin?"

"Yes, who's asking?" he didn't know that voice

"It's me, Jack, Jack Malone! How are you doing kid?"

Kid…his heart started to pound in his chest in an intent to come out somehow, Jack was calling him… was it a social call? Maybe he saw his name in the submission and wanted to see him after all those years, he called him kid… Or was it because of the job? All kinds of questions started to go around his head, but he tried to composed himself and said

"Well, the way I see it, it's a long time since somebody called me a kid Jack; I didn't know you worked here until I saw your name in the…"

That's why I'm calling you Martin, I want to do this by the book, I've already interviewed all the other candidates for the position, I was almost to make my decision when your submission came to me, I saw your records, they are… amazing, you did great in every challenge they presented to you. But you know… two years white collar… it's not the same than in the field"

"I did my training Jack, I qualified pretty good there too"

"Yeah, I saw that too, nobody could beat you there either, so… I want to see you, for the interview, you know. I just have one possible agent out of all the ones I've seen. But, the hell! I want to know if you can do the job!"

"Really, You're asking me?" Then he thought for a moment, something he had never considered when he sent the submission form "Have you talked to my father?"

"No, why shoul I?" Jack was taken by surprise with that question, what did Victor have to do in all this? "It's been almost twenty years I don't have a talk with him"

Martin didn't know what had happened between them in detail, although, like everybody else, he knew they were pissed at each other. He knew they had been working together when he was little, he remembered Jack from those times, then he remembered his father's promotion and how mad he was at Jack when he almost lost it, he remembered very well those days; his father was always mad at everybody, and when they finally moved to DC, his father sent him to that private school, very exclusive one, as he always said to him when they went to visit him or he went home one or two days each month, of course if he had time for Martin at those days. If not, he would just go to aunt Bonnie's, a much better choice to have some fun.

The thing was, that everytime his father was going to NY, he'd asked to call Jack to say hello in his name, and the only mention of Jack's name had brought his father's wrath against him, until Martin had drop the Jack's topic since then.

Now, thinking in the possibility of Jack bringing him to the team had brought all those memories back, his father would be very pissed with him; but well, he didn't like the whole idea of Marting being in the FBI either, so now, if he qualified to be in Jack's team, that would be another big spot in the history of the relationship with his father, nothing worth the worry about.

And he had booked his interview for the next week, he would be prepared for the questions to come, he could do it, he was sure…

June 25th, 2002, MPUE office

Jack spotted Martin waiting in the hallway, he looked different from the six year old kid he remembered, but still he looked quite alike, in his eyes, and the shy smile every time Viv had talked to him offering a coffe or something. He also had seen him blush at the sight of Sam going around in the bullpen.

He saw Danny looking at Martin from his desk, with a bit of… disgust?. He'd seen Danny, looking at him from head to toes, inspectioning Martin. Viv had talked to him, telling him to not get nervous, he had smiled in response and had blushed again, the mother in Viv made her sit by his side, offer him the coffee she had picked for Danny. He'd neglected saying his thanks, of course. Sam had also stole a glance at Martin from her desk, trying not to get caught in the act. That made Jack feel a little jealous, but he'd ended the relationship and it was good for her just to think it could be someone else in her life.

Jack thought it was a good time to end Martin's missery, he really looked more than nervous by now, he'd adjust his tie at least fifeteen times in the last twenty minutes he'd been sitting there. But the waiting game was part of the interview, he'd judged all his agents for the way they behave while waiting. If somebody could be sitting for ten to twenty minutes without pacing and tapping his fingers on a table or even on the chair, that sure was a good sign.

He went out of his office and called Martin. When Martin approached him, he was tempted to mess with his hair, like he had done twenty years ago to that kid showing him his books, instead he suppressed the movement from his itching fingers and extended his hand, very politely, but the others were there looking at them. Martin did the same and a second later he found himself being hugged by Jack. And Jack thought The hell with them looking at me, I haven't seen the kid for twenty years!

"It's good to see you Martin! You sure had grew up! Come on in"

"Thanks Jack" he said shily

As soon as they got into the office, and without any warning the interview started "Tell me, why did you apply for this job?"

"Well, white collar wasn't a challenge anymore, I did learn a lot there, but I always wanted to make a difference in the world, if you know what I mean, and catching that kind of people didn't seem to me like doing any difference, for the people, you know"

"I see… and you think here it will do"

"I think here I'll have a better opportunity to do it, to help people to find their relatives when something separated each other, yes, it will do"

"You know there will be times when that won't happen soon enough"

"Yes, I guess there's a possibility for that to happen" Martin sounded more confident in that answer, too much confidence than Jack could think in a rookie, he wanted to explore that and he pressed with his next questions, he hated to do that to Martin, he'd seen his father twenty years ago doing the same, he'd known about Victor's bad mood, also at home, everybody knew that in the FBI. So it was a good thing Martin had been sent to those schools far from home, far from his father.

"And how are you going to react when you find your missing person dead? How do you plan to tell the news to the relatives?"

Martin hadn't expected this question, it was hard to think how to tell the news, he didn't think it would be his job to do that, he hesitated for a moment, then he looked at Jack straight in the eyes and said "I guess just telling them the truth, is the least I could do, then… how am I going to react?... I don't know, it's possible I could feel somehow responsible if I couldn't find the person in time, maybe it will depend of the time of dead… but I can say I would still feel kind of sad, specially if it's a kid" he was awfully sincere and Jack could read the sadness in his eyes while he was thinking in the scenario.

"And will you cope with that, or I would need to get you a shrink in that case" now Jack was smiling

Martin looked at him and said "I'm not sure Jack, maybe talking would help, maybe with somebody in the team instead of the shrink?"

The perfect answer, Jack thought he'd heard the perfect answer for that unexpected question. He'd made it to all of the candidates and nobody had answer that, Leaning on the team, that was the right answer… "Yeah, that would be better than with a shrink" and now Jack stood from his chair and this time he couldn't resist the movement, he messed Martin's hair as if he still was the six year old kid. That made Martin shrug his shoulders and pass his right hand through his hair again. "Come on, I want to see how you do it in the range and in the training field" and they went out of the office.

From her desk, Vivian looked at them and smiled to herself, but Danny saw her and asked "What is it Viv?"

"I think we all have a new rookie on the team"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"That fancy boy?" asked Danny making a face.

Viv didn't know why, but she reacted in protective mode over the young Fitzgerald "Now, you don't go over him without even know how he is, you're judging him because of the way he looks or his lastname"

Danny saw his mistake and said "Ok, ok, sorry Viv. So… how do you know he's in the team?"

"I know Jack, I saw his face after the interview they had, now we have to wait and see how he does in the range, but he seemed very confident while they were getting out"

"Yeah, too much confidence for a rookie…" mumbled Danny

August 2002 The office

They were all gathered around the conference table when he got in, he saw how they were working together, a team, he would like to work in this team. He saw Jack glancing at him and nodding, and he waited where he stood until Jack called him. He presented him, although he already knew them, he'd done a little investigation and knew some of their background. Vivian Johnson, Jack's right hand, very experienced; Danny Taylor, of course that wasn't his real last name, he still hadn't found why he'd changed it, he was also a very good agent with a very wise eye in the streets; Samantha Spade, he made a smile at the name, what kind of parents would call their daughter after Boggart's well known character? She was also very good at files and street investigation, with very good judgement on witnesses and suspect's interrogation.

This was now his team, he belonged here, he'd made his dream come true, he was under Jack's command. His father had almost left him deaf last may with his shoutting on the phone and he just had cut the call, he assumed somebody called Victor when he posted his application for the job. But it was late, Jack had accepted him and he was already waiting for his transfer. He'd had to wait for a replacement in his currrent job, and as his boss wasn't happy he'd een very slow on that.

But finally they had found the replacement, his father wasn't talking to him right now, well since that last phone call on may, it's been three month since that last "talk", and that haven't been a very nice father/son talk, just a Victor's wrath agains him without any answer from his part. As he still respected his father, he'd listened to his addressing and he'd heard again about Jack Malone's sins, not that he hadn't heard that before.

Now, he was finally here, with his so long desired team, ready to work.

The case had beena kidnapping, although at first seemed to be about some fired up young woman wanting to get off of her life. But then, while searching in the office he'd had a hunch, he'd gone to make some questions to one of the witnesses and it had turned to be the kidnapper in person, he'd realized about it on the last minute, when he saw Maggie's backpack on the floor, lucky him...

It al ended in the hospital after a baseball bat's blow in his head, Jack yelling at him about his stupidity for going alone to see the man. He'd felt embarrased and stupid and he'd believed all the hard words Jack had said to him, they were so much like the words his father had used so many times… dissapointment, wrong, stupid…

Danny seemed to be pleased at first when Jack said those things, but then, in the hospital, he'd talked to him like a brother, he wasn't prepared for that and found it odd. Why did Danny act like a brother to him making him understand his mistake? Why? If he'd been in the team for so little, why pretend to be like a brother? Unless he wasn't pretending… wasn't he? He felt warm inside, he was part of the team, Danny made sure he'd understand that. He still would be in desk duty until Jack would calm himself and would make sure he wouldn't repeat the mistake.

On top of it, Victor had called Jack, Danny told him he'd heard the yelling from Jack's office, who else could be on the other side of the phone?. Victor had made the next days a living hell for Jack. He had tried to take Martin out of the team, the bastard, but Jack had "declined the offer", he didn't know why, after all those words, Jack had wanted to stick with him. He'd screwed it up really bad on his first week. He still had to face Jack back at work, what would he say to him?

Two days later he showed up at the office, he still had the pounding headaches and sometimes the world seemed to spin around him if he moved too fast, but apart from that, he was fine. What wasn't that fine was his proud, and he knew the damage would be worst after facing Jack's wrath.

He went to his desk and saw the team faces when they sent glances his way; they weren't angry or mad at him, he had expected that, it was pity and sadness what they felt, even Danny, they knew he'd have to face Jack eventually. "Fitzgerald!", in that precisely moment, Jack called him from his office with a shout, not by phone, no, that wouldn't have been so embarrasing.

He looked back while walking to the office and saw the faces mouthing a "good luck" to him, that felt good, he was on the team and the team cared for him after all.

"Come on in and sit down" barked Jack

He was on his way to the chair, he'd been practicing his apologies but now the words refused to come out, "Jack, I…" he could manage to say but Jack wouldn't let him say anything for the next minutes.

"What were you thinking Martin? You don't go alone to anywhere, you have a team to lean on, we work together and we are always paired with somebody else, covering each others back, don't you see it?"

"Yes, I'm…"

"No, you didn't see it, you could have been killed and also our missing person, it was a real bad mistake you'd done and almost costs us your life and hers. And it also cost me some phone calls from your father, you know he wanted you out of here before you started, now he has an excuse to get you out; he can do that, he has the power. And he also can fire me for letting you go alone in there."

"I'll call him to…"

"No, you don't call your father every time one of us screw up! I can defend myself and my team, and I'll stand by you before him! I just want you to know that. This is a team, learn that, but I want you to get that information inside your head, that seems to be very hard as all we know now" he made a smile after that, "You are on desk duty until I forget you screwed up in your first case, so it could take very long. Now, get out of my office and fill your report!"

The next days came in a line, with him filling reports and studying the basic rules of team work, on a suggestion, well more than that, from Jac. Every afternoon he would sit in Jack's office to discuss the different rules and how it applied to Maggie Cartwright's case, and how he had failed, or not, to that rule.

After the initial wrath, Jack had been trying to help him understand what he'd done wrong and the different right ways he could have acted if he'd taken a minute or two to think.

One thing was sure, Jack wasn't mad at him, he had never been, he was worry, he didn't want him to make the same mistakes, or any other one, that was why he was studying the rules and going on and on over them with the different case scenarios.

The whole thing brought back memories from his childhood, when Jack had been visiting his father and he'd taken his time to help him with his homework. He could remember very clear how Jack had taken his little hand holding the pencil inside of his and had traced the letters one after the other, until he was able to do it right by himself. This was exactly the same thing. Jack was taking his hand and teaching him the procedures to make sure he could do it alone. That felt real good…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After a week, they started a new case and he was going to join the team in the field again. They were all gathered around the table with Jack updating them on the facts.

"Terrence Hacket, 47, married, two children, kidnapped or dissapeared two days ago, nothing out of the ordinary by now, they are not rich people, still no ransom call, we don't have anything, he just didn't show up at home last monday after work."

He handed the file and distributed the different tasks "Danny, go to Hacket's job and ask the people there, take Martin with you; Viv, you and Sam go to his home and neighborhood" he sent a glare to Martin while he was standing from his chair. Martin got the idea of what it was for.

Once in the car, before turning on the engine, Danny said to him "You behave, alright?"

The look was cold and Martin didn't think he deserved such a warning, he'd done all they'd said for the last week, so he shrugged and replied "What? Why is that?"

"Jack wasn't that hard on you after you screwed up last case, I will. Don't even think in doing any stupid move again, specially when you are with me, understand? While you were in the hospital I had to face his full rage, I was the one who was supposed to be with you, but how would I know you were going hunting solo? You didn't tell me anything... here " and he showed the cellphone "this is a cellphone, you have to use it to call me anytime you have one of those crazy ideas, got it?"

Martin looked at him the hard way and said "Yeah, I know"

"At least say you're sorry!!!"

"I said it enough times!, ok?"

The rest of the trip to Hacket's work was in silence. Danny regretted yelling at Martin, he'd done some screwing in his rookie days and he inderstood the feeling of failing very well, but Jack had told him Martin had been his responsibility that day, so it was also his fault.

Suddenly he felt guilty about taking his rage over Martin and he offered his apology "Look man... sorry, I..."

Marin looked at him with sad eyes and sai "It's Ok" but Danny knew deep inside it wasn't, having Jack calling you every afternoon to recite the rules wasn't OK, unless you were a six year old kid...

"Martin, Jack can be real bad when he's pissed, but he cares for us"

"Yeah, I know he cares, but sometimes being a Fitzgerald... it's... my father was mad, he's still is, he'll make a hell of a fight to take me out of here..."

"And you don't want to"

"No man! I... it's all I wanted for years!" he trailed his voice now,"...and maybe I just wasted in my first case in the field"

"You could always talk to your father..."

"You obviously don't know him very well" he reasoned after Danny's words

"I don't know him, period. But he's your father..."

Martin cut his train of thoughts "So, you're lucky you don't know him"

Danny kept driving while thinking in Martin's troubled words about his father, he'd thought about Martin as a spoiled child, maybe he'd been wrong all the time.

They got to Hacket's workplace, it was a garage and he worked as a mechanic, he was good enough because sometimes the clients asked specifically for him to do the work.

"So you know Terrence pretty well after working here for six years" asked Danny to one of the mechanics

"Yeah, we always go out for some beers after work, just to talk"

"And what about monday?"

"Yeah, we also went to the bar on monday, there right by the corner" and he pointed to the bar at the end of the street.

"Did you leave together?" asked Martin

"No, I left before him, he said he had time for another beer"

"And what time was it when you left?"

"Around six thirty"

"Thanks" and they went together to the bar.

Once there, they approached the bartender "Were you working here last monday around six?" asked Danny

"Yeah, why" said the man in a raspy voice, he didn't like cops in his bar

"Have you seen this man having a beer here with a friend?" asked Martin showing Hacket's photo

"Yes, he was right here in that seat, the friend got out and we had some conversation after that!

"Did he say where he was going?" asked Martin again, Danny sent a killing glare his way, the pushing rookie again, when he would learn to respect his senior agent?

"Yes, he was going straight home, he said he had to be there before seven, he said his wife would kill him otherwise" and he laugh

"Ok, thanks"said Danny "lets go Martin" he shoved Martin outside of the bar.

Martin, stunned asked him "What? What did I do now?"

"First of all, if there's a senior agent, that would be me, I ask the questions, if you want to ask something, you send a glance my way, and if I nod to you, you can ask, if I don't, you just shut up. You have to let them talk, if you cut them off, we can miss some useful information. That bartender could have seen something or know more than he said after your questions" Danny tried to act politely, but deep inside he enjoyed this new role of teaching Fitzgerald. And also he didn't need another chat with pissed Jack because of some of Martin's screwing stuff.

Martin looked at him and said "Yeah, fine, ask permission to speak, what else master"

"That's all, for now. Lets see around here if anybody saw something"

They didn't find anything or anybody witness, so they went back to the office. Jack called a day and sent them home after they finished their reports.

The next day, they didn't have any clue and they could feel Hacket's life vanishing after their sight, there wasn't any ransom call, nor new leads to find the man. They were going home when Jack's phone rang, he answered "Malone!" with his usual bark.

"You put an APB on a Terrence Hacket?"

"Yeah, I did, why?"

"I'm officer Prentice, we found him, he's dead, stabbed in the thight, bleed out to dead among other things"

The memories flew to his head in a rush, and he felt a cold sweat running ver his body, it couldn't be possible, after all those years... "Where?"

"He's now in the morgue, we found him in an alley by 47th and 8th"

The mention of the alley froze him where he stood, the same place, like starting over where they had left last time, like a game. It was so... impossible to think... he wanted to call Victor, to let him know, but he also wanted to be sure before calling him. He went straight to the lab, nothing was more important right now. "I'm on my way to see the corpse"he said and cut the call

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Once there he looked for the signs only known to very few people, including him and Victor. He wasn't surprised when he saw the odd numbers written on the bared chest with blood.

"Is it the victim's blood?" he asked the ME

"It appears to be, same type, have to run a DNA test to be sure"

"Do it"

"Do you know what that means?" asked the ME pointing to the bloody message "5 to 1… what could it mean?"

"Don't worry, I know what it is" he said "call me about the COD and the DNA, would you?"

"Yes, I'll do it as soon as I get the results"

He dialed Victor's phone on his way back to the office, the last time they'd talked it hadn't gone so well, Victor wanted to take Martin out of the team at any cost, including calling an OPR against Martin and Danny, wich of course, would have worked real good. But Jack had made clear that that would drive Martin so mad at him and also could stained his records for ever, preventing him from getting another job in any government agency; that had gone deep into Victor's mind so he had backed off, for the moment. This time it was another issue, of course without Martin in the middle maybe they could at least talk about the case. He got through the secretary, not sure if his call would get to Victor or if she would filter it "Sorry, Mr. Malone, but Mr. Fitzgerald can't talk to you at the mo…"

"Look Miss, tell him it's about Frank Finnelay's case, and that he's back" he cut the secretary mumbling

The secretary sounded to be talking for some moments and after that he was rewarded with Victor's voice on the other side of the line "What do you mena he's back?" the voice lacked the last time's angry tone, it sounded with concern now.

"I'm not sure, but we had a missing person for three days and now, the police found him in the same place Frank was killed, and it had a message 5 to 1 in his chest, so if it isn't a copycat, we had got the wrong person last time"

"No Jack, I told you that night Frank gave me the complete description of the perp, and he was running, he had the knife and the blood too. He WAS the killer" Victor sounded sure of what he was saying, instead he added "I want to see the new body"

"It's in the lab now, you're planning to come from DC, you want me to send the body to your office or just sending the photos will do it for you" he said sarcastically

"The photos will be OK for now, I'll let you know what I will do after I see them." There was a silence for a moment and then Victor said "look Jack, after all these years, I'm still not sure if I did wrong or not for leeting Frank dying alone in there, I just did what he told me… I caught the perp"

"Yeah, I know, still you didn't care for Frank bleeding to death, but that's water under the bridge now, I can forgive you for that, I already have"

"And now you have something you know I care enough, don't you?"

"I'm not going to blackmail you with Martin, you know that"

"Yeah, I do know that, take care of him… I'll talk to you as soon as I get the photos"

After they ended the call, Jack headed home, wishing he could sleep tonight, the memories were vivid and he wanted to know if the new case would lead to a long list of new bodies.

The next day found a very tired Jack looking at Hacket's file. When he saw the team gathering the files from over the conference table and looking at the empty board where yesterday was Hacket's picture pasted on it, he approached them and said "They found Hacket dead last night, it's still our case, though is not a missing person anymore." Everybody frowned at the statement "I'll go to talk to his wife. Viv, Sam go to the crime lab to see what they found. Martin, Danny take these files with you, I want you to know every detail on it by the time I'm back here today, got it?"

"Yes Jack" said Danny "come on Martin, we're stick together here" and both went to get the pile of files Jack had in his hands and sat at the table to start reading and taking notes.

"Here, these are the photos they took from Hacket's body last night before the authopsy" and he left the photos over the table exposing the bloody message over the chest, he then turned around and left the office. Martin and Danny looked at the dead man in the pictures for a moment and then started to read the files.

After a few hours of reading both of them realized about what was bothering Jack, and Martin suspected there was more to know than what the files showed. He was now on Rowlands case, he painfully followed every line describing how Frank had died; he read the reports, his father's and Jack's and begun to understand the reason after all those years of his father's anger agaisnt Jack, he was little at the time, but he had felt that anger. He then read that Jack had called for an investigation that almost cost his father's aspirations to that top position in the Bureau. Finally he'd gone well and not damage had been done, but it had taken its toll in Victor's family, that was sure, and Martin had paid the highest price during his childhood. Now he knew the hidden reasons for his father's mood, anger against Jack and all the system, not justified in Martin's point of view. He thought for a moment what would have he done in his father's place… no, even as a rookie, he'd never have left his partner alone, bleeding, somebody else could go after the perp, but if you have a partner down, you remain with him until help comes, it's an unwritten rule.

Danny had read the file also, and was now looking at the emotions reflected in Martin's eyes. What else had happened that wasn't in the files? By the pain shown in Martin's face, he could say A LOT more had happened, but he couldn't ask. He would have to wait for somebody willing to talk, could be Jack or even Martin himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

By noon Jack came back to the office. He'd been talking with the other   
departments involved in the case and had convinced them to let him run the  
investigation. Even though they weren't homicides, he was sure there could be  
other kidnappings followed by the death of the person, and he knew the  
little details they would have to look for that would lead them to  
the right person.

"Okay. Are you done?" he asked his agents.

"Yes, Jack," said Danny, while Martin nodded.

"Any questions?" 

He saw their faces were full of questions but neither of them voiced any. He  
continued talking, waiting for them to open up, knowing Danny, he'd be the  
first but deep inside he knew Martin had unresolved matters on his mind and  
was eager to know the details. "The place is the same where the last victim was found,   
and my partner, Frank, was killed. The MO is the same. Nothing was published  
about the details of the case and nobody thought of it as a serial  
killer's, so it's hard to believe there's a copycat. We're thinking it's the  
same person, but we know he's dead, so -- "

Martin was the first to talk, not worrying to ask for Danny's permission  
as he was told the day before. "Serial killers usually write their  
experiences in a very detailed way, maybe somebody found the journals."

"That's a very good idea. Let's start with that as it could be the only lead   
we have. Now, you have the address for Gallager at that time there?" asked Jack,  
nodding to the files.

Martin hesitated for a moment and finally asked the question he'd had in mind  
since he started reading the files. "Jack, could you prove without doubt that  
Henry Gallager was the killer?" 

Danny let out the the breath he'd been holding. He thought Martin would ask  
about his father's procedures, but he didn't. Maybe he knew his father  
enough to know he'd have done that after all.

"There was plenty of circumstantial evidence, the knife, he had blood stains  
all over his shirt, though DNA tests didn't exist at those times, but he  
matched Frank's description. As Frank was dead, we had to believe your  
father's words." Now Jack saw this as an opportunity to tell them  
everything. They would have to go over the case again so they would need to  
know. "I believed without doubt in you father's statement, Martin. He was  
very good at his work. He chased the guy. I was mad at him because he left  
Frank bleeding there to follow Gallager. I can tell you Frank was my  
mentor. I couldn't stand the thought of him dying there alone, but  
your father said Frank told him to go after Gallager. He took the time  
to give him the description. Your father thought he was okay, and he went after  
the perp and caught him. He fired his gun to make sure we'd go to the place  
where Frank was and call for help. After the investigation everything was   
right for your father and for me, but we got apart. Then he moved to D.C.  
The memories were hard to bear. I never told him I was sorry for what  
happened there, but he never told me that either. I know Gallager was  
guilty, and his wife made our lives hell, especially your father's. She  
said her husband wasn't the killer, went to the newspapers and talked to  
everybody, but her husband was dead. Eventually, she calmed down and moved  
on, I think." 

"But we need to talk to her to find if there's any file or diary her husband  
was keeping, or something else." said Danny.

"Yes, I hope she'll cooperate with us. I don't know what to say. It will be  
difficult, I know, facing her after all these years, but you have to try.  
It's the only lead we have."

"Okay. Thanks, Jack. You think I could talk to my father to ask him some  
questions about the case?" asked Martin concerned.

"Yes, I believe he's coming tomorrow to help with the investigation. This  
case was very tough on all of us, as you can see." and he looked at Martin in  
a way that it was clear he knew what Martin needed to know. So he said after a moment,  
"Martin, come to my office." and he led the way.

Once there he sat at his desk and nodded for Martin to sit in the chair  
right in front of him. "Okay. Ask what ever you want, I'll answer it."

"Well, it's just --"

"You need to take that out of your head if you plan to do the work, if you  
don't, I'll assign another person. So, what is it?"

"I would have never done what he did, and you still believed in him, but  
this Gallager, was it him, really? I remember those days after you left and  
never came back. My father was really pissed. Once I asked if you were coming   
for dinner, and he almost hit me, made me promise him I wouldn't mention your  
name ever again. What happened? My father seems to be still mad at  
you after almost twenty years."

Jack imagined Victor hitting Martin because of him, and he felt guilty for   
that. He regretted what he'd done those years ago, but he needed to clear  
the air now. "Your father is mad at me now because you work here, and because  
I didn't call him to let him know before I hired you. I take you didn't tell  
him yourself." and he grinned at Martin.

"No, I was planning to do it, then after Maggie Cartright's case, I guess he  
found out, somehow."

"Yeah, imagine that, somehow." said Jack with a smile "Well, as I said  
before, I couldn't stand him after Frank's death, and when I wrote my report,  
although it was all the truth from my point of view, of course, it was  
slightly different than your father's. He didn't have Frank to back up his   
story. So there was a big and rough exchange of hard words between us, and  
also between the FBI and the police department. There was also Gallager's  
wife, she threw all the shit she could and turned on the fan our way. It  
didn't work, but it affected him, very deeply. I guess he already felt  
guilty about Frank's death. We talked last night, and he managed to say he  
was sorry for the first time to me, but, well, he moved to D.C. He had a friend   
there and got a place there, but he couldn't forget Frank. I know because Caroline  
says he sends her something every year, and he also took care of  
the kids' education expenses, and such things." 

"Still, he was so mad all the time. I don't think it's related to the case."

"You'll have to ask your father about that." answered Jack "Now, you can go,  
but remember, if you want to talk, anytime, I'm here."

"Yeah, Jack, thanks, as always." said Martin while leaving the office. 

After that, Danny and Martin went to look over the Gallager's last known  
address and it turned out they had left the house 15 years ago when the mother  
died. Both boys, now 32 and 25 years old, were sent to their grandmother's  
house in Minnesota and there wasn't anything about them by now.

The mother had committed suicide. After all her attempts to bring down the  
case about her husband, once she knew she couldn't do anything about it, she  
killed herself.

"What are the sons' names?" asked Danny.

"Cid and Barney, as they were called at school. We could start there if you  
want, maybe they'll have the grandmother's address" said Martin.

"I'll ask for a warrant to search the house first," suggested Danny.

Once they had the warrant, they went to the abandoned house to search and to question the  
neighbors.

"Remember, Martin, let them talk. Better start with the ones beside the house  
and in front."

"Aren't we going to the house first?" 

"No, first the neighbors, next the house. It's 3:15. We still have  
daylight, tomorrow we'll be going to the school. I'll take the house on the  
left, and you take the one on the right." 

Danny rang the bell and an old man came to the door.

"Good afternoon, sir," he showed his badge. "How long have you lived here?"

"Well, lets see, we moved here when I still worked for the phone company,  
that would be around '83 I guess. Why?"

"I need some information about the Gallagers. What's your name, sir?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Oh, sorry, son. Come on in, please. My name's Gil Rozensky, and… yeah, I knew those poor boys. They went through hell after their father died. Who would have thought…" the doorbell rang. It was Martin who had finished with the other houses without any leads and had come to meet Danny.

"It's my partner, sir" Martin showed his badge and Mr. Rozensky let him in.

"Oh, where was I?"

"You were telling me about the Gallagers."

"Oh, yes of course. It was what you wanted to know. After the father died they were, lets see… Cid was, I think, around fourteen, and Barney was five or six. I could tell you Cid suffered a lot; everybody at school harassed him. His mother went also kind of crazy about all that. She wouldn't accept any word against her husband, and she was yelling all the time. We had Barney here for days without her coming to pick him up. He was such a good boy, we fed him and took care of him. We took him to school everyday. We took care of him for those five years as of he was ours. We tried the same with Cid. It wasn't any good for him to be with his mother. She was gone a lot with the trial and all, but he wanted to be with her, and he suffered very much through all that, especially after the end of the trial, when he came back home with his mother. She got worse within a few years, and finally… I won't ever forget that day, Cid running in the street yelling for help. I called the ambulance, but when they came, it was too late. Then the social worker came. I tried to keep them here, but they sent them to be with their grandma in Minnesota. I think they came back a few years ago, to the house. I think I heard them talking some nights." Danny and Martin exchanged a glance.

"Are you sure? When was it?" asked Danny.

"I think three or four years ago was the first time I saw the lights on, but it was late at night. I went the next morning to see if they were there. I wanted to see Barney, after all those years, but they weren't there."

"Do you happen to have the name and address of their grandmother in Minnesota?" Danny asked.

"Mmmm, let me think, I know I had their phone number, can't remember exactly where it was. I used to call Barney every afternoon, and he called me back some times, too. But in May '99 I had my surgery and, after that came the therapy, I wasn't home for two months. Then I was coming and going back to the hospital…"

"I understand, sir, here" and he gave him his and Martin's card "call us if you find the phone or address."

"Yeah, okay. If you see Barney, tell him to come and visit, please."

"We'll do, thanks for your help. sir" and they shook hands with Mr. Rosenzky.

Once in the street Danny asked Martin "So, what did you find?"

"Nothing, just the address of the first owners of the houses. They moved around here by '97, didn't get to know the Gallagers, but they also said they'd heard noises in the house some nights."

"That's strange. Let's search the house."

They went to the front door and forced it open. They searched every room; there was still some ragged furniture and things that apparently had belonged to the Gallagers. They went to the attic and found some boxes with old newspapers and other documents.

"Lets take these boxes to the office," said Danny. "Help me get them to the car."

"Sure" replied Martin.

Together they moved the six containers to the first floor. Martin saw Danny going to the car and asked, "Why don't we check outside, in the backyard? One of the neighbors said she heard noises coming from there at night every now and then."

"Yeah, fine, what do you expect to find?"

"I don't know!" he felt exasperated with Danny today. Why did he have to explain everything to him? Yeah, the rookie thing. "I just want to check that out. Okay?"

They went outside and scanned the area. Martin walked around. The grass was tall, and they couldn't see anything. He felt something strange and called to Danny "Look, here, the ground isn't leveled and the plants are different. It's like something's buried here by the look of it," he reasoned. "We could call the lab…"

"Look, Martin, I have a shovel in the trunk. We better see first, don't want to call the lab for nothing."

"Yeah… you're right; don't call the lab for nothing…" Martin thought, today wasn't a good day for Danny, he was too jumpy on everything he said.

Danny brought the shovel and gave it to Martin, then went inside the house while saying, "I'll get those boxes in the car and wait for you outside."

Martin sent a glance to him, of course, it had been his idea. He was the one to be digging the hole. So he started with caution, paying attention to the dust and ground he was taking off the hole. If he was writing a journal and didn't want to get caught, maybe it was buried here among other things, like souvenirs from the victims.

Half an hour later, he had his hands, shoes and pants covered with mud and dirt of all types. His face was also stained everywhere from using his hands to clean his sweat from it, but he still was digging, stubborn as he was, until the shovel hit something hard. Maybe it was the box he thought. Maybe it is buried there. The hole was now about 3 feet by 4 feet and 3 feet deep. He was inside of it, and he kneeled in the ground to have a closer look of what it was his shovel had hit. He searched the ground around the object, it was like a root. Maybe Danny was right and this idea of digging here was stupid after all. He tried to take the root out of the way. He still wanted to dig a little more. He rummaged around the root with his fingers until he could take it out. He pulled hard and finally he succeeded. He took it in his hand and when he was about to throw it away, he looked at it with surprise. It wasn't a root or a stick. It was a bone, a human bone, an arm bone. He wanted to be sure and looked for another one. This time his fingers moved frantically around the place where the shoulder would be, and he found another bone, a scapula, it wasn't a mistake. Someone had been buried here many years ago!

He took both bones in his hands and went outside to look for Danny. He found him leaned on the car listening to the radio and singing along some Latin music. When Danny saw him he said with a grin in his face

"No way, Fitzy! You're not getting into my car covered in mud!"

"Danny, call the lab!" was his only answer, he didn't care about Danny's mood anymore.

"Yeah! Why should I?"

Martin showed him the bones, one in each hand and said "I found this!"

Danny's eyes went wide like saucers and while he got closer he said "I can't believe it! You were right…" he then looked at Martin straight in the eyes taking one of the bones. "Sorry for being such a jerk."

"It's, okay." smiled Martin, after so much time being around his father, he was used to that kind of treatment, everything wasn't good enough or not quite right for his father; all his life he'd been proving himself at one time or another.

Danny called the lab and then he called Jack. He will be coming soon for sure. Then he got the boxes back to the house and went to the backyard to see with his own eyes what Martin had found.

There it was, that hole Martin had been digging for the last 40 minutes or so. He had showed his determination to Danny by doing the work himself, not caring if he ended with ruined clothes. He was sure something was buried there, and no matter how many times Danny said to him it was nothing, he still had done it. Danny saw his own mistake, he had been so busy trying to dampen Martin's enthusiasm, his judgment had been blinded. He wanted to apologize, again, but he didn't know if he could.

Martin was still in the hole using his hands to find the head; DNA wouldn't help after all these years if they didn't have a sample to compare with. But the teeth records would do the work. The head was important, and Martin was removing the ground with his bare hands looking for it. Looking at him would bring a smile to anybody who knew him well, always neat and with the perfect combination of colors between his shirt, suit and tie; but not now because of the circumstances.

Danny heard the car outside. It was Jack for sure, so he went to talk to him. He had asked him to bring a change of clothes for Martin. It was the least he could do for the rookie.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Where were the bones?" Jack asked brusquely. The time for civility was passed. He needed answers, answers that would have been found in the past if not for the wife's doings. She'd been so mad going to the press and lawyers to sue them that the department had abandoned the case as soon as they could, all with the blessings of Captain Meadows.

"In the backyard, look Jack, I'm sorry. I was a jerk. It was his idea, but I  
thought it was a stupid idea... and..." Danny was running after Jack while  
talking. Jack stopped walking and looked at him, "Wait here for the lab" and  
he gave him the bag with the clothes Danny had asked him to bring for Martin.  
"You can give this to him." he said as he turned and continued to the backyard.

Upon reaching that location he found Martin. At least he guessed it was Martin. His agent was a disaster, covered in mud, running his fingers through the ground as if trying to get something out. He stopped for a moment and contemplated Fitzgerald, and he couldn't help but smile a little. His always spit and polished agent was a filthy, raggedy mess.

Martin hadn't seen him coming. He thought they were waiting for the CSI crew  
outside, but he wanted to be sure the head was there that all his concentration was on the task at hand. He raised his head at the sound of Jack's voice and said "I don't have a mirror, so I'm not sure what you're talking about..." he looked down again because he finally got the head and could take it out of the hole, he handed it to Jack "I wasn't sure I could get the head. It sure will help to clear up some things."

"Tell me something, why did you want to dig? What did you see?" it was getting dark by now, so it was hard to see the entire backyard.

"I didn't see anything at first, but I started to walk around," Martin turned on his flashlight to show Jack what he meant, "and I felt the ground wasn't level. Something was wrong, and then I saw the grass was different in some places" he showed Jack the different types of grass. "Here, see. I remembered when I was little, and Parker, my dog, died. Mom buried him in the backyard, and we made a little grave and marker. It was the right thing to do. Well, for years, the ground and the grass were different there. I wanted to leave it that way to remember where Parker was buried." he looked down, and his voice trailed a little "I guess... well, it looked the same way here." Then he continued walking and showed more places that looked the same while saying "I think there's more than that one here."

"Mmmmm..." now Jack understood why Danny had apologized to him. It was clear   
something had been buried there, and Danny had left Martin with all the hard work. He wouldn't say anything to Danny though. He'd recognized his mistake the second he'd seen the bones, but he'd ask Danny to apologize. "Danny asked me to bring you some clean clothes. I took them from your locker. He has the bag with him outside," and he gestured Martin to go and get changed.

Martin went outside to find Danny, and just at that moment the CSI team was   
parking in front of the house. He gave them the bones, and they went inside.  
They met Jack and while looking at the bones for a moment one of them said  
"Male, I think in his thirties, by the look of his teeth, but I will be sure  
after running some tests."

One of the others told Jack after looking around with a flashlight "I think  
we may have more than three more here by the look of the ground."

"We searched the house and took some boxes. They are inside, but you should search   
again."

"Of course, Jack, we'll do it." said the technician

Jack waited until Martin changed clothes and said "Okay, let's go" and he  
sent a glance to Danny before he went to his car.

Once Danny and Martin were in the car, alone, Danny took the opportunity to  
talk. "Look, Martin, I'm sorry I played you on this one. I really thought it  
was a bad idea, but it turned to be a good one. I think…I didn't want to get  
dirty for nothing, but you were right. Next time... I'll stand by you, no  
questions at all. Sorry, buddy."

"It's okay. I guess it's still the rookie thing, and after that case, I guess  
I deserve to be treated like this..." said Martin, looking down, he was so  
used to people letting him down that he hadn't complained about Danny's  
outburst about his idea and how he wouldn't help him, but now he was  
surprised at Danny's sincerity in his apology.

Danny took him home and promised to pick him up the next morning because his  
car was in the building's parking lot. The sudden change in Danny's attitude   
amazed him. Again, this was a new feeling, something warm inside, the sense  
of belonging. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before even at home with his parents.

It was close to the feeling he had during his summers at Aunt Bonnie's  
home. Although, when he was there, he knew he didn't belong there. It was   
close, but not real, and this was real, in the apology and in the compromise  
to pick him up, asking Jack to bring him a change of clothes... Danny had  
made him feel he belonged on the team. Jack also made him feel the same  
since day one, even when he'd screwed up with the case and Jack was mad at him,  
but not like his father's anger. This had a mixture of concern and the need to know he'd  
learn from that and that next week being close to Martin teaching him. Yes,  
Jack cared for him too.

Even with the creepy feeling of having found the buried man, he could sleep  
very peacefully that night knowing he finally had found what he'd been   
looking for. He was sure now.

Danny picked him up at 7:30 the next morning. He had gone to a coffee shop  
to get some breakfast for both of them to share on the ride in which was a nice  
surprise to Martin. Jack needed them at the office to talk about the lab's  
reports.

They were gathered around the conference table with the reports in front of  
them, and Jack shared the latest information. "There were a total of nine   
bodies there. The TOD went from 23 years ago until 5 years ago. Seven  
bodies were from around '75 and the remaining two were from five years ago, both  
of them. All the bodies had several bone injuries, broken arms or ribs that  
suggested torture of some kind. All of them stabbed in the leg with damage  
in the bone. No ID's by now, but we expect to have something coming in the next   
few days, but these bodies were hidden and not supposed to be found."

Martin raised his head from the files and asked "Could be the killer was  
learning?"

Danny was about to say something, but based on his past experience, he'd   
learned to wait and listen to Martin's observations. Viv and Sam exchanged  
looks and Viv said "Why would you say that, Martin?"

"From Gallager's files it said he used to bleed out his victims, beating them  
first, having them locked up for several days without water or food, then he  
opened a wound in the leg, nicking the artery to let them last some time.  
How did he know all those details?"

"It could be he learned how to do it and then started to drop the bodies for  
us to find them, like he started the game when he knew he was prepared for  
it." said Jack

Sam had been quiet all this time, listening to the different opinions, then  
she spoke up, "So, whoever killed the last two found something like a journal  
where he could learn the procedures, and he also practiced with the last two  
before he started to drop the bodies, like his mentor. Why would he do that?"

"And why come here to bury the bodies?" wondered Danny thoughtfully, "Unless he wanted to keep the connection with the original killer, like some kind of ritual to  
honor him. So we won't find the journal, because the new killer has it with him."

"But we might know from the things we found in the attic if there was a  
diary." said Jack, then he asked Martin and Danny, "you said the neighbors   
heard noises at night. Could it have been a homeless person, the one that found this  
document?"

"There has to be a special kind of person to do that killing. You don't  
start because you read something like a killer's journal, Jack" said Viv "And  
homeless people have other priorities in life."

"Ok, it's not a homeless person. Somebody else, then." agreed Jack

"Could be another psycho who knew the Gallager's story and came here to  
find the place where he'd lived and found that kind of file in the house."   
said Danny. "You said the wife went to the newspapers. Maybe they published  
detailed information and that attracted this man."

Martin said "Although it was twenty years ago, how come somebody starts over  
where the other left off?"

"Yes, it was in the news, with some information, but we never said it was a   
serial killer and never gave the details of the wounds the bodies had, just  
the place of the drops and the age of the victims, but the wife tried to  
make it clear he was innocent." answered Jack

"I guess not that many people believed her." said Martin

After the brainstorming meeting, Jack started to set everybody's tasks for  
the day. "Okay. Viv and Sam, start to look for the Gallagers' boys. Where did they  
go after they left the grandparents house. Let's see if we can find them.

Maybe they remember something. Call the neighbor and find out if he got the  
address in Minnesota"

"I could look up on the web if there's information about the case. We could  
trace the people who looked through the websites" suggested Danny.

"Good idea, Danny. You keep on that. Martin, you're with me. We're gonna look   
in the old files again and compare them with the new case"

After lunch they were still working on the files and Martin asked him, "Jack,  
when Gallager died, did you talk with his friends at work to find out if  
somebody suspected something, or if he was alone or had help from anybody  
else?"

"I didn't do it myself. I know your father was worried because he killed him.  
I think he went to his work, talked to his wife at the house, even before  
you left for DC, the same day, he went to talk to her."

"Where are all those reports he got from that time?"

"Maybe in his files, you can ask him to send them here if you want." Jack  
knew about Martin and Victor's relationship, and how it got worst after he  
got into MPU. So he offered to call Victor and ask for the files.

"That would be great. I'd prefer no to talk with him about this." said Martin.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Jack took the phone, called Victor, and after clearing the secretary,  
he finally said "Hello, Victor, I need to see the reports you have from the cases related to Gallager's. I need everything, who you talked to, all the records. Everything.   
I'll be waiting for it. Do you think you'll be coming? I see. Bye."

Martin heard part of the conversation. It sounded easier than he thought it would be, maybe Jack and his father were getting past the worst of the relationship, maybe there was hope after all. Martin looked at Jack with mixed feelings, on one side, he was happy his father wasn't coming. He didn't need him looking over his shoulder evaluating how he did his job, but he also wanted to talk to him about the case and ask him specific questions only Victor could answer, "So he's not coming after all?""No, we'll have the box with the files here this afternoon, until then, I want you to focus on the little things we found in the old files and in the lab report, something's missing."

"Ok, I'm on it."

The box arrived that afternoon as Victor had promised, and Jack worked on his notes. It was obvious in the way he'd written the last report, he'd been with a heavy load and was trying hard to come to terms with all that had happened in the end with the case, but he'd finally proved Gallager's involvement in the murder cases he'd been investigating.

After reading the files several times and having his notes in order, Martin joined Danny and Viv and heard them talking. Viv was saying "I think the best move would be to contact the sons and talk to them. If they remember their father having something like a journal or diary, maybe they still have that with them."

Sam appeared suddenly and interrupted "I think I may have found something here" and she showed them a list. "A Barnaby Gallager works for an insurance company not far  
from here, in the city!"

Danny surprised everybody when he gestured to Martin, "Martin and I will go and talk to him right now." and he gathered his things and started down the hall watching as Martin hurriedly grabbed his coat and almost ran to catch up to him. Martin hadn't needed to run; Danny was waiting at the elevator holding the doors for him. Perhaps things were starting to improve.

They talked to the receptionist at the main office and she called Barney to meet them there.

The young man that met them was about Martin's age, green eyes, thin, blond hair, and a face that was too much like the one of those innocent boys that never grew up, no matter how many years had passed. He shook hands with and studied both of their badges very carefully as if memorizing the information and then they sat on one of the couches in the reception area.

"So what do you need from me?" He looked at them with questioning eyes. He seemed to not have any clue why two agents were there to talk to him. He was so transparent in his efforts and both Martin and Danny thought it weird this man looked like he didn't know about what his father had done in the past."We need to know what happened with your father's or mother's things when you moved from New York to Minnesota." said Martin.Barney looked him straight in the eye and replied, "I'm not sure. I think my grandfather came and packed up everything he thought was important. I don't remember those times very well. When I was old enough my grandfather told me about..." he looked down at the floor as he whispered, "…what my father had done. I couldn't believe it. Now I'm trying really hard to have a normal life with my brother here, back in NY. Sorry. So, about those things, I'll ask Cid and give you a call if he knows something, maybe he knows about my father's stuff. He was old enough to remember, he'll know."

Both Martin and Danny gave the man their cards requesting him to call if he thought of anything more. Shaking hands with the man they left to return to the office.

On their way back they remained silent for a long time, until Martin broke the silence.   
"Troubled man, isn't he? Wouldn't like to be in his shoes"

"Yeah, knowing that about your father, must be bad."

Then there was silence between them again. They had had their problems with their respective fathers, but nothing like Barney's problems.

"So Barney and Cid live together?" asked Jack after he listened to their update on the interview.

They looked at each other and Martin answered "He didn't say they lived together."

Danny corrected him now "Yes, Martin, he did say so. You didn't notice. He didn't use words straight out, rather he implied that with his words and body language."

Martin was puzzled, he hadn't noticed anything like that, and he wasn't sure if Danny was teasing him, but Danny continued with the explanation, in a friendly, teaching way.

"He said he wanted to make a normal life for him and his brother, so they live together.""Oh." was all Martin could manage to say. He'd missed all that. He made a mental note to pay more attention next time to the real meanings of the words.

"Well, I think we can call it a day. Everybody go home. I'll expect you tomorrow at seven to go on. We have to try to talk with some of the people mentioned in Victor's files" said Jack before letting them go.

Martin was on his way home after running some errands when his phone rang "Fitzgerald" he answered.

"Agent Fitzgerald, it's me, Barney Gallager. My brother told me he had some boxes of stuff that belonged to my parents. He said grandma gave them to him before we left Minnesota. They're all packed and he hasn't opened them or even unsealed them. If you want to come and pick them up, I'll be here."

Martin looked at his watch, it was 7:15 PM, early enough to make a stop before going home. "Wait a second" he parked his car on one side of the street and took out his notepad and pen, "give me the address please." He wrote the address and said, "I'll be there in about twenty minutes, is that okay?"

"Yes, of course, I'll wait for you."

He then called Danny on his cell phone. "Taylor" he answered, while combing his wet hair in front of the mirror.

"Danny, Barney Gallager just called me and said his brother remembered having some boxes from his parents. He said he doesn't know what's in them but that I can go and pick them up if I want.""Okay. I was just going out on a date, but I call her and get to you in twenty minutes or so, is it far from my place? Give me the address."

After Martin gave him the address they agreed that he'd wait in his car in front of the building until Danny got there.

Danny finished quickly, called his date and to postpone. He thought the call would be quick, he was wrong.

"Hello."

"Hey, Sally, it's Danny. I need to postpone our date about and hour, last minute appointment with work. Can we meet a little later?"

"Danny, this is the third time you've done this to me. I'm obviously not that important to you. Why don't you check your oh so busy calendar and make sure your clear before you keep changing the day, the time and whatever else with me. Then, I'll check my oh so very, very busy calendar and decide whether or not I'll pencil you in in case nothing else important comes up.

"Sally, I promise sweetie, this just popped up at the last minute. I'm planning on taking you to that real fancy restaurant you like so much. Please don't be mad." Danny enjoyed a good dance with the ladies and he knew Sally wasn't as angry as she seemed, she just liked to make him work a bit, but right now he needed this call to end quick He had to get to his partner.

"Okay. Okay. You sweet boy, you said the right words this time, I'll wait for  
you for one hour no more, well, perhaps an extra half hour if I feel like it." and she cut the call.

Danny ran downstairs, no time for waiting for the elevator. He got to his car and drove towards the address Martin gave him. He got there ten minutes late, but he saw Martin's car and parked behind it. Martin wasn't in the car.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Danny cursed Martin for not being there waiting for him, but at the same time he knew he'd been 10 minutes late, anything can happen in ten minutes. He was about to call Martin on his cell phone when his rang. It was Martin and he sounded pissed, "Where are you, Danny?"

"Where you're supposed to be, by your car. Where the hell are you?" he almost yelled.

"Relax, man. We're right around the corner. I'm waiting for you with Cid and Barney. They've got the boxes."

Danny let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding. For a moment he'd thought Martin had made the same mistake as before. He headed around the corner and saw them. Martin and Barney seemed to be talking in a friendly manner while Cid looked on. As Danny got closer he saw Cid give him an appraising look. Danny didn't like what he saw. Cid was a big guy, like a body builder. His dark hair was similar to Barney's and both had green eyes. But, whereas Barney's eyes twinkled with humor at whatever he and Martin were discussing, Cid's eyes were hard and cold.

"Sorry for being late." Danny apologized as he drew near.

"Martin told us you wanted to talk to us." said Barney.

"Yes, we'd like to ask you some questions as well as gather up the boxes you found for us."

"Okay. We can go up to the apartment after we load the boxes in your car. Right, Cid?" Barney looked at his brother as if asking for permission.

Cid was standing beside his brother, but he looked like he was very far away. He just shrugged his shoulder and muttered "Whatever..."

They walked into the parking lot and used the stairs to go to the second floor and from there headed to Cid's car. Martin and Barney were talking about football, and they appeared to find a common ground as they discussed college football and who was and wasn't going to win this year. Danny took advantage of Cid's solitariness and to get Cid into a conversation "So, Cid, what do you do for living?" he asked.

"Just that, live, pass the time..." he answered reluctantly.

Great, thought Danny, real talkative.

By then they had reached the car and Cid said, "Okay, here we are. Barney, can you open the trunk?"

Barney did as he was asked. Inside were two big boxes. He took one and gave it to Martin, and the other to Danny.

"We'll take the boxes to our car and then we can talk in your apartment." Just then Danny noticed a sudden movement in the corner of his eye and heard Barney saying "What the hell are you doing Cid?"

As he was turning around he let the box fall to the floor, but it was already too late.

The office 8:10 PM

Jack was still in the office when the phone rang. He looked at his watch wondering who could be calling him at this hour.

"Malone." 

"It's me, Victor. I see you're still there. I hope the others are at home, or do you keep your team working as late as you." he sounded amused, unusual for the senior Fitzgerald.

"If you're trying to ask if I make Martin stay late at work, the answer is no, at least not tonight." Jack couldn't help but grin a bit. He knew Victor cared about Martin, but he had a weird way of showing it. In fact, he didn't show it at all.

"I see your mood hasn't improved with the years. The only time I saw you smiling was when you were around my children. I hope that remains the same."

Jack was surprised with the sudden change in Victor. Maybe Martin did have a talk with him after all. Maybe, after all those years they would be able to close the deep scars in the friendship they once had. "So, to what do I owe this late evening call?"

"I wanted to tell you that I managed to clear my calendar for the next week, starting this Friday. I will be coming to work with you and your team to help you solve the case. That is, if it's okay for you, Jack." he didn't want to press Jack with his decision, but he'd asked for his help days ago.

"Yes, I think it will be great to work together again. Maybe we can teach the young ones how to do things the right way, but I need to ask you a favor first. Actually, it's more of a condition for you to come."

"And that would be..." he waited patiently

"I need you to be paired with me or Vivian. Let the guys and Sam work together and please don't push so much over Martin."

"Oh, I see. I knew you were going to say something like that; always the protector with the little ones," he said sarcastically

"I knew you imagined I would do that, but I had to tell you, they're getting along very well now. I think they'll be a good team, and they don't need us looking over them every step they take."

"I understand. You have my word on it Jack. I won't be intrusive."

"Thanks. So when are you coming?"

"I'll be there Friday first thing in the morning. There's no need to pick me up at the airport."

"Fine, we'll wait for you here."

"Where are you exactly on the case right now?" asked Victor finding that he was looking forward to some field work, much to his surprise.

"Right now we have no strong leads. Viv and Sam are working with the web pages about Gallager and following who's been there, something that's difficult to do. Danny and Martin went to see Barney Gallager and are looking for anything in his past. That's not so easy either, but we're working on it. Hopefully we won't have another case in the next days if they're sticking to the original timing of Gallager."

Victor was silent for a few moments as he considered everything Jack told him.   
"Yeah, Gallager kidnapped every six to ten days, so if they're doing the same you have... what two more days?"

"Mmmm, yes like two to four days" Jack agreed.

"Let's pray it's four and we can stop it before it happens. Why don't you send me all you have so I can look over it while I'm still here?"

"I'll do it right now, Victor, thanks."

"Until Friday, Jack."

"Bye." he cut the call and considered what had just happened. Victor sounded relaxed, understanding, and eager to help, like he was another person.

He called Viv and let her know about Victor's arrival and the slight modification in the team starting Friday. Then he sent Victor the files and reports, closed his computer and headed home.

The parking lot 8:15 PM

Danny couldn't believe his eyes; Cid was holding Martin with one hand around his chest and a knife in his other hand pointing at Martin's neck. Martin had dropped the box down and a lot of old newspapers scattered around him on the ground. Barney was looking at the scene with wide eyes, similar to Danny's. The difference was that whereas Barney was shocked and confused, Danny was shocked and angry.

"Now, you take your handcuffs and cuff yourself with one of them on your left hand, and come here very slowly and cuff Martin on his right one. Don't make any moves that I would suspect you're thinking of trying something heroic. I'll cut his neck, and I'm sure his father will grieve forever, like he deserves."

Danny, very slowly did what he was told. He was now beside Martin and Cid, and Cid spoke to Barney in a sharp tone trying to shock his brother out of his frozen state, "Barney, take his cell and gun from him" when his brother didn't move he yelled "Move Barney! This is the son of the man that killed our father, you stupid idiot! He will now know how it feels to lose what you love the most in your life."

"But... he... Cid, you can't do this. Just let him go... think about what you're doing, please!" Barney nearly had tears in his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. His brother was going to kill somebody in front of him, and he couldn't do anything to prevent it.

"Barney, do as I told you and get in the car, or I assure you I'll kill him right here and now!" and he pressed the knife against Martin's neck causing blood to start to flow from it staining his shirt.

"Okay, Okay. I'll do it." Barney's voice trembled more from fear than anything else. He moved close to Danny and took everything from him, badge, gun and phone. Then he moved towards Martin and did the same. He took everything to the car and put it on the floor in front of the driver's seat of the car. Slowly he sat on the other seat and waited for his brother. 

Outside the car, Cid, still holding Martin ordered Danny around to the trunk of the car. "Get in there slowly, both of you."

Danny slowly climbed in. It was awkward with one hand handcuffed to Martin. He carefully kept his eye on Martin and Cid. He didn't like the proximity of the knife to Martin's jugular and he didn't like that Cid had managed to press the knife harder so that more blood flowed. He knew that if Cid sneezed the action would cause him to nick the jugular and Martin would be dead in seconds. Fortunately, Cid didn't seem prepared to kill Martin just yet. He just made a point of drawing the blade enough to cut Martin and spill some blood and to cause him pain. It wasn't enough to cause permanent damage.

Awkwardly Martin folded into the trunk next to him. Cid grinned and wiped the bloody blade on Martin's shirt front. Then, almost as an after thought he gripped the knife and sliced it viciously across Martin's chest opening a wide, deep slash. Danny watched horrified as the blood immediately stained the front of Martin's shirt. Martin gasped at the searing pain of the blade sliced his flesh.

"Nice and snug, boys. Enjoy the ride." Sneering at them he slammed the trunk closed.

Instantly Martin tried to curl on his side to stop the pain.

"Hold on, Martin," Danny tried to be reassuring but inwardly he was frightened.

Martin answered with a weak voice "I'm still here. It's not so bad. "

Danny felt and heard the car start up and then start moving. He squirmed around enough to pull a handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed the cloth against Martin's neck. He kept his finger on his partner's pulse and was relieved that, while it was a little quick, it didn't seem too bad.

He braced Martin protectively with one hand around his neck trying to stop the blood from that cut, and half lay across his chest to stop the bleeding from the gash. It was awkward due to the confines of the trunk but there was no way he was going to let his partner down. The car started to move. He felt it going down the two floors and it was clear when it hit the streets because of the traffic load. He held his partner all the way, feeling when he seemed to pass out because the body relaxed, but the heartbeat was still there, and it was a reassurance that Martin was still alive but for how long, Danny didn't know.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Thursday 2:45 AM - 8 hours missing

Officers Jackson and Wilkinson were patrolling the area when they saw two cars parked in the street in a forbidden zone.

"Just pull the car over there, Sam, lets see what we've got." said Randy Jackson.

"You think they were stolen and abandoned here?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, nobody leaves their car here at this late hour unless they want it to disappear. Read me the plates I'll check in the system." he typed in the plates and the result appeared in the screen. "It's from the FBI." he exchanged a look with his partner "Agent Daniel Taylor; lets see the other one" he typed again and waited "another Fed, Fitzgerald, Martin" they locked sights again.

"I don't like it, Sam"

"Neither do I, Randy. Call it in; this is something that's going to be big."

This was definitely a curse. The piercing sound had been drilling a hole in his ears, and he still wasn't sure if it was dream or reality, but it kept ringing and he finally woke up and answered the damn thing. "Malone!" he felt worst when he saw the red number showing the time, this couldn't be possible.

"Agent Malone, I'm Sergeant O'Neill from the fifth precinct. I have two officers in the street that found two of your cars parked in a forbidden area. I thought it was weird because of the time and just wanted to check it out with you."

"It's okay. Whose cars are they?" if this was a mistake of the police officers he'd make sure they continue patrolling for the rest of their lives.

"I have here that the cars belong to a Taylor and Fitzgerald. They're on your team right?"

Jack was surprised with the news, but he didn't know what to think. "And where are the cars now?"

"We haven't moved them yet. I wanted to check with you first due to the neighborhood, the time, the fact that both are federal agents. I can start an investigation if you want." offered O'Neill

"No, thanks. I'll handle it. Give me the address." he wrote the address and for a moment he thought it sounded familiar to him, but he just couldn't place it in his mind. He called Danny on his cell and then his home, but there was no answer at either number. He repeated the steps for Martin, with the same results. The cells went directly to voice mail.

He hated this, but he didn't have a choice, so he took a fast shower and dressed in casual clothes leaving his home twenty minutes later. He went first to the place where the cars were found.

He found them easily thanks to the blue light of the police car. The officers were there waiting for him. The cars were fine, no damage done to any of them. He looked around but had no clue at why they were there. Ordering the officers to take the cars to the FBI Impound yard he decided to go to Martin's first. He muttered to himself that if they were partying somewhere while he was loosing a good night's sleep, they were never going to get out of his dog house. While he inwardly hoped this was the case, the experienced agent within him told him they were in trouble. He truly hoped they were together as the limited clues seemed to indicate.

Dark, hot, close, tired. Martin woke up to all of these things simultaneously. Then he felt the pain. He felt a sharp stinging at his neck. He tried to move to touch the area. He couldn't move. As he began to struggle against the closeness he realized he couldn't see. Everything was dark. He tried to move his head but felt tightness around his throat that was close to choking him. The panic began to set in again as he realized not only could he not see, but he couldn't hear anything. He could smell and he smelled blood, and sweat. He smelled gasoline fumes as well. He could feel and he felt pain, heat and confined.

He started to panic again and tried to move his body. Trying to sit up he felt additional pain in two places. First his head as it smacked into something hard inches above him and then a searing heat across his chest. As his senses overloaded with the additional flashes of agony his hearing returned in a rush.

"Martin, Martin. Stay calm. Don't move. I'm trying to stop the bleeding. Just relax, man, I've got you."

Danny? He could hear Danny. Stopping his struggles Martin relaxed for a moment and some semblance of clarity returned. He could hear Danny talking urgently to him; he could feel his breath on his neck as he spoke. In a rush, Martin's memory returned. He remembered being with Danny. They were going to meet Cid and Barney. The parking lot, Danny was late, two boxes, newspapers everywhere. Then the pain and Danny grabbing hold of him.

The darkness was all around him and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't see, but he could hear Danny's voice. It was getting fainter but remained insistent.

"Stay with me, Martin. Stay awake."

Martin struggled to follow the command but the darkness before his eyes enveloped his thoughts and he slipped away…

It was 5:30 AM when Jack arrived at Martin's. Using the key he had for each of his agent's place he let himself in and scoped the apartment quickly. It was spotless. He talked to the security guard for the building who indicated that Martin hadn't been at home since yesterday morning. Each shift recorded the cars coming and going. Martin had left early morning the day before. He had not returned.

Jack headed to Danny's and repeated his investigation. Jack spoke with the security guard first who indicated that Agent Taylor had returned home around 7:15 according to the log but had not reappeared. The guard grinned as he said it wasn't unusual for Taylor to not return home on the weekends until the next day. It was unusual during the week.

Danny's apartment had evidence of him returning home after work as well. His suit was with some others to go to the dry cleaner. While Martin's apartment was spic and span clean, Danny's was desperately in need of some TLC. Jack pushed some papers out of the way from the desk and hit the flashing button on the answering machine.

The first couple of messages were the usual junk telemarketers, a bank calling regarding a new credit card, and one of the annoying recorded messages telling Danny that he absolutely, positively needed to come down to so and so's car dealership for a new vehicle. The third message was pay dirt. It was from someone named Sally and she was mad.

"Taylor, where are you. This is the last time you stand me up for a date. I know your work is important but this is ridiculous. You said you needed an hour and a half for this little appointment for work well; it's been over two hours. If I find out that you're with some other girl. Never mind. If you're out with some other girl, I hope she's worth it. If you're not out with some other girl, I hope you really love your job, 'cause that's what you've got to keep you company, not me."

Jack had stopped listening to her rant after her mentioning something about an appointment for work. When his two agents had left, there had been no appointment. Now he knew that while Danny had made it home, Martin had not. Yet somehow his two agents' cars were parked together at a strange location. Suddenly Jack remembered the address where the cars were found, it was Barney Gallager's address!

He called Viv.

"Hello?" she sounded sleepy.

"Viv, call Sam and meet me at Barney Gallager's address." Flipping open his notebook he read off the address to her.

"What is it, Jack?" Vivian's voice took on a concerned tone as she pulled out a pen and wrote down the address.

"The police found Martin and Danny's cars there, but I can't contact them, I don't know where they are or what happened to them. It seems they went there to meet Barney Gallager."

"I'm on my way. What's going on?"

"I don't know. I just don't know."

Within the hour the three agents were outside the building where the two Gallager brothers lived. Finding the building manager they showed their badges and gained entry to apartment 515. Everything looked normal for two brothers sharing an apartment. There were the expected dirty dishes and some piles of newspapers that had been read and piled to the side. There was no evidence of a fight or a struggle of any kind.

Jack was certain that neither of his agents had been inside the apartment. He looked out the window and his eyes fell upon the now vacant spot on the street where just two short hours ago his two agents' cars had been illegally parked. Noting there was no parking directly in front of the building, nor did the building have its own parking garage he scanned the street. Finding the parking garage across the street and slightly up the block to the left he turned to leave.

"Sam, I need you to start questioning the neighbors as they come out for their papers and to go to work. Vivian and I are heading across the street to check out the parking garage."

Heading across to the garage they both looked hopefully for security cameras. Vivian spotted the cameras first and pointed the out to Jack. Jack nodded and strode purposefully to the security booth. Flashing his badge he asked if the man knew Cid and Barney Gallagher.

"Yes, sir."

"Can you point out which car is theirs?"

"No, the car isn't here. It's a black Pontiac UHG 319. It wasn't here when I started my shift. That's kind of strange because Barney's car is always here at 5:30 PM, and he leaves for work everyday at 7:45 AM."

"Do you have a way to know when he left?"

"Well, I have a log here… let's see… yes, yesterday at 8:25 PM.

"I see you have security cameras. Can I view the tapes?"

"Yes of course, I can tell you #7 and #3 are the ones"

"Can we see the recording around that time?" asked Jack, his heart beating faster than he would like it to.

"Yes, sure." he put the right tape in the machine and advanced it until Jack told him to stop. Then he stared at the image as he watched his two agents walk into the garage with two men he presumed were Cid and Barney Gallager. They saw Martin and Barney talking like old friends while walking through the second floor and approaching the car, behind them walked Cid and Danny.

They looked at the image until they were hidden by a column, the employee said, "Barney's car is behind that column, we can't see the trunk with the #3, but we can see the front, so I'll switch the tapes if it's okay with you."

As the tape advanced they watched as the men stepped out of view of the camera and then a short while later Barney appeared and opened the driver's side door, leaned in and did something, then disappeared. A moment later he reappeared, repeated his actions and then went around to the passenger's side of the care and got in. His face was a mask of confusion and shock. A moment later Cid appeared beside him and he got out of the car and had some kind of discussion with him, suddenly Cid pushed Barney against the car side and slapped him on his face, telling him something with anger showing in his face. He pushed Barney again inside the car and got in on the driver's side. Then he started the engine and they left.

"Where are the other men?" asked the security guard.

"That's exactly what I want to know." said Jack trying to think positively, but failing "I'm going to need those tapes, and I need you also to show me the place where the car was parked."

The man handed Jack the tapes and told him the slot number assigned to Barney Gallagher.

Together, Jack and Vivian walked quickly to the location in the garage.

"Jack, look at this." Vivian had reached the area slightly before him and her sharp eyes had picked up on a stain on the pavement.

"I'm no forensics expert that's for sure, but I'll bet my next raise that this stain is blood."

"I think you're right, Viv. There's nothing on the footage to suggest Martin and Danny walked out of here."

"I don't know Viv, maybe he was securing their guns and phones. Either way, if this is blood, and I bet it is, the fact that it's not a lot doesn't reassure me because of its location."

"You're right, Jack, according to the footage we just saw the location of this blood is right near where the trunk of the car was."

"Put an APB on a black Pontiac plates UHG 319 ASAP. We're left here with a stain of blood, no car, no agents, limited camera footage, and no idea where our team mates are."


	13. Chapter 13

Hey! I'm so very sorry for taking so long, but I was really busy in a lot of ways and althought I have the story already written to its end, as I do it the old way, that is with paper and pencil, I had no time to digitalize it, then going to my beta, which didn't take a long time 'cause she was really fast and thorough in her work, as always. But, anyway, here it is, hope it's worth the wait, and you like it...

Chapter 13

Thursday 7:45 AM Gallager's apartment

They met Sam in the apartment after she'd questioned all the possible witnesses without any success. They really hadn't seen anything interesting, just the security guard of the building had seen both brothers meet Martin in his car, but they had gone to the parking lot and then nothing.

Jack was tired and frustrated, but he knew he couldn't afford any rest right now, Danny and Martin were nowhere to be found, and he had lost any hope that they were partying together so he decided it was time to make the call. He'd made his decision, and he'd also come to the real conclusion, Danny and Martin were in real danger. It had been more that twelve hours since anybody had seen them.

They were going back to the office. He needed to call Victor and tell him what he knew. He turned to Sam before he left for his car, "Sam, call Barney's office. Find out if he called in sick."

"I doubt he'll call. I think he was taken, too." Vivian voiced her suspicions in a rather cold way, meaning that by 'too' she thought Martin and Danny had been taken against their will.

"What do you think about him? How would you profile Barney when he found out what his brother was doing? I mean… would he join him in the revenge?"

"I'm not sure. He looked like he wanted to change his brother's mind." Answered Vivian, "I've never met them and apparently Cid is a difficult person to work with. I wonder how come Barney called him to live in his house. I wonder where he was living before."

Jack considered Vivian's words for a moment and said "We have to find out something about this Cid. He's like a ghost. He's not in the system, but we have to track him and try to know him, just to know what he'd do next."

"I'll look here and in Minnesota where their grandfather lived, maybe we can find something there." said Sam

"Yes, Sam, good idea. Do that as soon as we get to the office."

After that, they sat around the conference table showing puzzled and concerned faces. "So… what do you think will happen to them?" asked Sam

"For what we know by now, Cid Gallager took them yesterday around 7:30. We still don't know exactly what lead him to do that." said Jack

Vivian interrupted him with her train of thoughts "From what we could find out this could have something to do with the old cases as well as with the new ones."

"Why would you say that Viv?" asked Jack still not getting the idea.

"I think you better call Victor, to ask him whatever he can give you about the old cases, because I have a strong feeling that this is related."

"But why take Danny too? And even Barney?" asked Jack while Sam nodded in full understanding.

"Maybe there's something we still don't know, that's why I think we better call Victor to find out everything about the father and the whole family" answered Vivian.

Jack grabbed the phone and made the call. After going through the secretary, which took only a few seconds because apparently Victor had given her straight orders concerning Jack's calls, but still Jack thought as soon as Victor would hear the news, the office would be like hell on earth.

He heard the voice on the other side of the line and didn't wait any time to tell the news to the father that was in Victor. "Sorry, Victor, there's no good way to tell you this, but I'm pretty sure Cid Gallager has taken Martin and Danny, and I'm not so sure about his own brother Barney. It was yesterday evening. We still don't know much about the facts. I need full access to everything you have on the Gallager boys, so I could get to know Cid better." Now he could breathe sure of the wrath coming from the line.

The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. Victor's mouth opened to speak but no words came as his mind struggled to comprehend the news. His mind screamed, "Oh, my God. Why. Why now. Why when there is so much I want, not need to say to him!" In a moment, the cool confidence of a trained, experienced agent took control, and although his mind was a tangle of fears and questions, his voice sounded steady and controlled…

"From what I remember, the little one was a good kid, the mother kept him close. She was never mad at him. He was very much like Martin. The big one is another story, Jack. He was very attached to his father, and he seemed very lonely and angry all the time. He almost hit me once. I could see it in his eyes, and he was always hiding something."

I went to the school once, to know how it was going with them, and the teachers said he'd been always the same way. No change at all even after his father's dead, like he didn't feel anything. That boy hid something, and he still does. The counselor at the school wouldn't give me the files, but I think she'll show them now, you better start there" he let a deep breath out of his mouth.

"Okay. Send me all the information you have. We'll search the school here and in Minnesota. He sounds dangerous and, if he's responsible of the death of those bodies in the backyard…" said Jack

Now Victor had reasoned the news and asked Jack "But what were Martin and his partner doing that they stepped in their path? You should have known better that to let them contact my son."

"He went with Danny to interview Barney and the old neighbors. It didn't appear to be dangerous, you know, they found the bodies buried there."

"Don't tell me he went alone to meet them, just because he thought it was important…"

"No Victor! He did it all by the book, he waited for Danny, and still they are both missing right now, I guess Cid did it, by what I could see in the tape"

"And what about Barney? Was he there?"

"Barney… we still don't know, yes he was there, but it was like they had a fight between each other."

"I'll send the information as soon as I gather it, and I'm going there immediately after that, so we could get them back as soon as possible, I'm taking the next plane to NY" assured him Victor

20 hours missing…

Some town close to NYC

He'd been dozing on and off for the past hours. He vaguely remembered being helped to walk, then his hands being tied on his back, his jacket taken off of him and that angry voice again talking to him. Then it was all silence until he remembered being called from very far away, time after time, the pleading voice calling him not to go to sleep, to keep awake, and the body against him, giving him warmth. He could hear the voice again, calling him. But he wanted so bad to sleep…

"Martin! Please, don't sleep, talk to me, open your eyes" Danny called his partner

He listened to the voice, but the cold he felt was stronger and kept him from concentrating on the voice. He was shivering, and tried to curl in a ball to keep his body warm, but it wasn't possible, it was too cold in there. He opened his eyes and it took him a lot of effort to do it, but the reward was worth it, because he saw he wasn't alone there. Danny was with him and he could hear him still talking and greeting him.

"Thank God! Took you so long! How you feel? No, no, no, don't go to sleep again!"

"Danny…cold…what...happened?" he managed to say

It was so dark in the room, and Danny was also tied on his back, so he had to lean on Martin's description of how he was, but it was bad enough that he didn't remember what had happened to them "Cid Gallager, remember? The parking lot?" he tried his best to bring Martin's memory back.

"No, can't. It's too cold here" and the shivers ran all over his body, he couldn't control his teeth chattering

"Stay calm, you'll. start bleeding again!" asked Danny, he wasn't sure why Martin couldn't remember, and the cold wasn't helping him to get better from the blood lose.

"Bleeding?" The voice was a whisper now, and his eyes started to close again.

Danny could feel Martin going to sleep again, and he feared he would go into shock, so he approached him and put his head against the neck wound, to feel if it was bleeding again, and to help Martin to keep him warm. Thankfully, the wound wasn't bleeding, so it was all from the cold he also felt. He started to talk to Martin again, to keep him aware. It was all he could do, he will keep Martin alive until help come.

"Martin, come on, we need to figure this out while we're here, and maybe we can master an escape plan. You talked to Barney more than I did, what do you think of him?" he wanted to bring Martin back to the present, keep his mind working and the best way was through a case. Martin was like a dog in some ways, once he got the bone, he wouldn't let it go.

As Martin heard Danny's words, he started to remember bits and pieces of what transpired in the parking lot, so he answered after considering for a moment, "No... he's not... with this..." was the short pained answer, but it was working. Martin sounded more aware of the conversation now.

"How can you be so sure?" he replied "Maybe it was his plan, and Cid was just helping him?" yes, playing devil's advocate was the right way to approach the problem.

"No... It's Cid's, saw his eyes... hate, fury... rage... to me" he answered again between breaths.

Danny thought for a moment, but he didn't want to remain silent for so long, fearing Martin would go back to sleep "But, he's here with him, why hadn't he stopped Cid at the parking lot?"

Martin's mind played his last moments of consciousness in slow motion, and he saw the surprise in Barney's eyes. He almost heard the pleading to his brother to stop "He'll help us" Martin sounded so sure that for a moment Danny didn't doubt the words.

Still to Danny it was a way to keep Martin aware and he thought it would be good for them to play a little "what if" game in their minds, something, anything, to keep them with hope until Jack came for them.

At the office

Jack had everybody working on a different side of the case, Sam was contacting Cid and Barney's school teachers in Minnesota, Vivian had gone to their school in NY and already talked to them. They were waiting for Victor, for he'd said he'd be at the office soon, he'd got to the airport minutes ago. When he got there, he and Jack would go to Barney's office, to talk to his boss.

Victor got into the office with a look in his face that painted the worry he was in, but as hard as he tried, he couldn't mask it. For what was left of the team, there weren't any words to say to him, so they just put a hand over his shoulder and shared a silent moment with him. Everybody was coping with the lost in their own way, but there was nothing Jack needed to know that Victor could say; in a way, he understood the man, a tough father, but in another, he also hoped he'd be different for Martin. Still, Martin was the way he was, because of this man, that, he'd have to be thankful for. Then Jack said, with a voice full of hope:

"We'll find them Victor" he waited a second for him to reassemble himself and added "We're going to Cid's apartment, if you're up to it, maybe you can find something we missed."

They were now in the car, going to meet Barney's boss. Suddenly, unaware of his own words, and maybe due to his mind playing him dirty games, he asked Victor "So… how's your relationship with Martin right now?, Is it still hard to reach him for you?" He hadn't planned to say it that way, but he cared a lot for Martin, like he was still that six-year-old boy lost in his own house.

"Yes, it's hard, you know, after Frank's death I was… it was hard for me, and this Gallager's wife didn't do it easier… I think… I just brushed him off. I don't know what to say. You know I love him with all my senses," a tear started to fall from his eye, but he couldn't help it, he didn't know if Martin was still alive, he kept talking, lost in a sea of memories from Martin "He's my dream come true as a son, but we just… we don't say much to each other, and every time we're together, it' gets so difficult…"

"You realized it might be a threat to you, he…" he thought for a moment in Danny too and corrected himself "…they will go through a lot without having anything to do with it", he waited for the words to sink in Victor's head "we'll do our best to find them, but we need to profile this Cid, we don't know anything about him.

"I'll help you with everything I remember, but it was twenty years ago. He's changed a lot since then."

"Yes, you're right in that, but I have this feeling now, after watching that video in the parking lot… I think Gallager used Cid to help him in the killings back then." Victor's horrified face stared at him. He just couldn't believe Jack's words.

"But he was just a child! How could he do that to his own son?"

"That, I don't know, but I have Sam and Viv working on that. They'll talk to the boys' teachers, to learn more about them and their childhood. For what we know, Barney has a normal life. He took care of his brother about five years ago" they had reached Barney's office and Jack said "We'll continue this later" and Victor nodded, still frightened with the thought of Cid having Martin at his will, if he was half as mean as his father…

The secretary welcomed them and said "Mr. Blackwell will receive you now, Agent Malone." she guided them to the office where a man around 60 greeted them from his desk. They shook hands and he asked, "Oh, Agent Malone, I don't know what happened today to Barney. It was very unusual. He's never been late in all the years he's worked here."

"And how many years are those?"

"Seven. He started very young, and he's risen in the company very well, because he's so focused on his job, and very responsible, too."

"We're worried because he disappeared last night from his parking lot; do you know his brother, Cid?"

"Yes, although I wish I didn't. He's like bad news to me" At this Jack and Victor shared a look.

"in what way?" asked Victor, who'd been observing Blackwell all the time.

"Barney tried to get him a job when they moved together, but he was in trouble most of the time."

"What kind of trouble?" pressed Victor.

"He was… like he wasn't here. You could see him there, sitting at his desk, but he wasn't working at all. Twice we sent him to see a client at his house, with another employee, and he wandered around the house, specially the backyard and basement, while my other employee interviewed the customer. One day, the client got mad at his behavior, called the police to get him out of the house. He wouldn't. So, we called Barney to help, and he got him out of there. The client sued us for harassment."

But did he say something to the person?" asked Jack puzzled at the revelation.

"Yes, according to this person, he threatened him, told him he was a perfect prospect, that he would hunt him and let him bleed out to death, or something like that. Why should he say that?"

"And what happened after the incident with Barney?"

"I told him we'd help him with his brother. He's a very good person, didn't deserve to face the whole thing on his own. He was very worried about his brother, and he feared for him. I can't blame him for his brother's doings. He took him to a doctor, got a week off. We got him a specialist that's well known to our company, for cases of stress while on a robbery or murder, you know we need to make sure a customer that claims to be mentally ill, actually is, so we know a lot of psychologists, well he took his brother to the best we could get."

"So you know the name of this doctor?" asked Jack

But Victor got a question on his own this time "And how many years ago did this event happened?"

"The doctor's name is in his file. You can ask my secretary. She'll give it to you, and this was maybe five or six years ago."

"Thanks, Mr. Blackwell." said both of them while leaving his office.

"I hope everything's okay. Bring Barney back when you find him."

Jack and Victor turned around and looked in surprise at Mr. Blackwell. He seemed to be very concerned about the man "I think he's a very good man, no matter what his brother is."

They left the building and went to the car, once there Jack said "This adds to my theory about Cid Gallager…" he looked at the address for the specialist.

"Barney was pretty much like Martin at those times. He spent many hours a day at his neighbors."

"Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Rosenzky, Danny and Martin… they talked to them the day he found the bodies" the only mention of the names brought pain to Jack's soul and he remained in silence the next minutes while Victor was talking.

"Yes, the Rosenzkys, I've forgotten. Well, Cid was always at home in the attic. Once I called him to talk about his father -- if he knew about some files or boxes, something, he came down, locking the door after him. I've never seen colder eyes in a young boy, and now that I think of what you suggested earlier… I haven't thought of that possibility, but… he looked mean, that day he stared at me, with those eyes, I asked him those questions, and he just kept looking at me, nothing else. He didn't say anything.

I remember talking to his mother about it and she said he only talked to his father, even Barney couldn't get a word out of him at those times."

"Did you meet him some other time?"

"Yes, he was in court with his mother, but he never talked to her."

"But he's not deaf or mute" asked Jack

"No, I think he chooses not to talk. He's a weird person, maybe that doctor would clear the thing for us" he suggested looking at the card in Jack's hand. Then he kept quiet for a long time and Jack could feel the fear growing inside of him.

Jack knew Victor was thinking how the past had come to haunt him for what he'd done to Gallager, he thought back to those times and how he'd left Victor alone with all that guilt about Frank's death and Gallager's wife and kids. He felt bad now for what he hadn't done in the past, he should have been there for him, helped him cope with the situation but that was the past. They needed to focus on the present now, to prevent the past from repeating itself.

So he said "I'll call this doctor. We're not waiting to get an appointment. We're seeing him today," Jack said with resolution in his voice.

"Yes, sure" answered Victor still lost in his darkest thoughts.


End file.
